Mobile radio networks provide a facility for subscribers to communicate via a radio access interface, which conveys radio signals representing data between mobile user equipment and base stations of the mobile radio network. Each of the base stations provides a radio coverage area within which radio communications with the user equipment can be made. An operator of the mobile radio network is therefore able to generate revenue from mobile communications. However, an efficiency of the radio coverage provided by the base stations may determine the amount of revenue that a mobile operator can generate from a mobile radio network. If the radio coverage is deficient in some way then a mobile subscriber may communicate via a competitor's mobile network, rather than a first network with which the mobile subscriber has communicated. The first network operator may therefore lose an opportunity to generate revenue from that communication and any further communications made via the competitor's mobile network.
As will be appreciated therefore identifying areas of a coverage area of a mobile radio network, which can be improved, is desirable in order to reduce a loss of communications traffic and therefore revenue from communications for an operator's network.